Nigerian drug trafficker gets his death sentence upturned to 20 years jail and 10 strokes of whipping

Abuchi Ngwoke, 31, has escaped the gallows, for drug trafficking but was jailed and ordered to be whipped for possession of drugs. A Court of Appeal three-man panel sentenced him to 20 years jail and 10 strokes of whipping for the possession of 251.66 grammes of methamphetamine.

The court unanimously allowed Ngwoke’s appeal to set aside a Melaka High Court’s decision to convict and sentence him to death for trafficking in the drugs after he was arrested at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on May 23rd 2012 after arriving from Nigeria.

In his defence, Ngwoke claimed that he swallowed “precious stones” which were wrapped, with soup after a man named Chibike told him that it contained precious stone gold dust which was used in jewellery-making in Malaysia. He claimed he was drunk when he followed Chibike’s instructions.